About Me

Born in August 1887 in Awsworth Notts, to Henry and Sarah Lamin. Elder Sisters Catherine (Kate), Mary Esther and Sarah Anne(Annie) and Elder brother John (Jack).
Educated at Awsworth Board School, just outside Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England.
I served with honour in the 9th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment seeing front line action in Flanders and Northern Italy from the end of 1916 to January 1920.

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Link to The very first Posts

Helpful Hints

From 1st March 1918 the leap year in 2008 takes the synchronicity of the days and dates away. Decision: I will publish letters a day in advance so that the days of the week coincide, rather than the date.

"New" readers please note that the entries on each page are in reverse order, oldest at the bottom.

It doesn't work quite like a book. To make sense of the whole blog, take the link to the "First Posts", work from the bottom entry upwards and then take the "Newer posts" link at the bottom of each page for the next installment.

Link to The First Post. (New Readers)

I can only refer to the elements of Willie’s childhood that have survived in some form or other. My father rarely spoke about it.

Click on any photograph to enlarge it.

Willie became a member of the choir at IlkestonParishChurch when he was aged about 7. That it was important to him is without question as he remained a loyal member for an astonishing 75 years. He was a talented singer. He was a soloist as a boy and later as a tenor. It's a great picture of him all ready go as Nanky Poo in the Mikado. (Coincidently, I've a very similar Mandolin hanging on my wall).

On the basis of his talents, he was offered a scholarship to one of the great Cathedral Choir Schools. His story is that his mother, Ethel, decided that such a course wasn’t “for the likes of them”, and the offer was declined.

He played football (soccer), he was a goalkeeper. That was a revelation to me as I’m passionate about the game – and yet never knew that he played. I just discovered the photograph and asked about it. Cricket was his main sport and I can remember him playing for local teams when he was in his forties.

Back to the singing. He tells the tale of how a well-to-do gentleman had left the request that Willie sing the beautiful “I know that my redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah, at his funeral. At the time, Willie’s voice showed signs of breaking – a potential disaster. He was instructed by the choirmaster not to talk a word or to sing in the days leading up to the funeral. He even went to school armed with a letter of explanation. He made it, and received a treasured letter of thanks from the gentleman’s family.

He was into amateur dramatics, meeting there a young school teacher, Nancy. I suspect the photograph of Willie leaning against the tree was a publicity shot. I hope so.

When he left school at 15, he was fortunate enough to find work in a local textiles company, run by an enterprising Dutch immigrant. He tells tales of collecting cheese from the Netherlands from the railway station and rolling it down the hill to the factory for the owner.

In 1940, Willie followed Harry into the army, initially as an infantry soldier, to take part in World War 2. (To be continued)